I love pancakes so much. I get very excited every year on Pancake Tuesday and say to myself ‘I should make pancakes more often’ and then of course I forget and another year passes and I haven’t made any pancakes. I love the art of pancake making though, swishing the batter into the hot pan, moving your arms about to coat every last bit of the pan. Not to mention the amazing smell of pancakes cooking. I adore the way they turn a beautiful mottled golden brown. And of course the best bit, the art of flipping the pancake. Not that it always turns out right, sometimes I have use my hands to fix it up. I’m lucky to be blessed with asbestos hands and no amount of heat seems to affect my fingers. My Mum was a master at pancake making and I loved watching her make delicious thin and crispy pancakes, the thinner the better.
The secret of course is to use a scant amount of batter and let it spread evenly on all sides. The other secret is a good pan. If you haven’t got a good pan, forget about it. I use a Circulon pan which I love, though some day I might just invest in a fancy crêpe pan.
The first pancake you make is almost always a dud, an offering to the pancake gods, if you like. It’s always a bit soggy and never quiet thin enough. Then as you move on, the pancakes appear to get better, and the last one is always the thinnest and the tastiest one. I kind of like it when I just about run out of batter and the final one ends up being kind of lacy, full of gaps and holes. The imperfect holey pancakes are somehow always the yummiest. When I saw this post on this great food blog, I knew I had to try out these lacy pancakes. They turned out a real treat.
These pancakes would also make a great meal for kids, as you can make them nice and small and could even draw images of their favourite cartoon characters. I of course got a little carried away and had to make a S’tasty pancake.
Here’s how:
– 1 egg, lightly beaten
– 250 ml whole milk
– 1 pinch of salt
– 200 g of flour, sieved
For Frying
– butter, melted.
Place the beaten egg, milk and a pinch of salt in a large bowl. Using electric beaters, gradually add in the flour and mix until all well combined and lump free. Leave the batter covered in the fridge for at least one hour. By now the batter will be a little thicker. Pour the batter into a squeezy bottle. I got mine in a cookware shop; it’s essentially like a ketchup squeezy bottle with a nozzle.
Heat your pan over a medium to high heat. Place a little melted butter onto the pan. I like to put the butter on with a heat resistant brush so it’s not too greasy. Once the pan is hot enough, you can draw out a decorative design with the bottle of batter. I drew lacy hearts, circles and stars. I even tried an Angry Bird design. It’s great fun making lacy pancakes and it would be a great activity with kids, once supervised of course. Once you have done a few, I like to keep the pancakes warm on a plate over a pot of boiling water, with a clean cloth over the pancakes on the plate. Shake the bottle of batter between each drawing, just to keep the mixture well combined. Grease the pan again and repeat until you have used up all the batter. I served mine with some delicious berries, crème fraiche and a dribble of maple syrup. I think they would also make a great starter served with a little salmon and crème fraiche. They look so elegant and taste great….I think I may have found my new pancake.
